Cristian Ribera is not only the youngest participant in the Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics, but by coming sixth in the men’s cross-country long distance sitting he has secured Brazil’s best ever placing in the Games to date.

“It is very important for me to be the youngest Paralympian at this Games, but what I really wanted when I came here was to do well and surprise everyone,” Ribera told paralympic.org.

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“I feel so honoured for having made history for my country, it is an inexplicable feeling,” he said.

Ribera finished ahead of some more established athletes in the event, no mean feat considering his opportunities to train on snow are limited.

“We train on rollers because there is no snow in Brazil. That allows us to run in the streets. We work the technique a lot, but of course the transition to running on the snow is not easy. It is quite different. We train on snow once per year in Europe.”

Ribera was pleased with his performance in Pyeongchang. “It was a good event, I managed to have good rhythm throughout. Despite not reaching the top five, I met my goal of ending among the top 10. It was very tough and did not imagine something like this at only 15 years old.”

He was introduced to the sport by the Agitos Foundation, which was running workshops in Brazil looking for potential future Paralympians.

Ribera only has one team-mate with him in South Korea. Aline Rocha, who carried the nation’s flag in the opening ceremony, also competes in para-Nordic skiing. She finished 15th in the women’s 12km sitting. Rocha also took part in the 2016 Paralympics in Rio, and is the first woman to represent Brazil in the Winter Paralympics.

Ribera sees taking part in Pyeongchang as just the start. “All athletes dream with competing at a Paralympic Games. But I had never thought of doing it so early in my career and life. I want to train more and develop myself as an athlete. I know this experience in Pyeongchang will serve as a learning for my whole life.”

He will compete again on Wednesday, in the 1.1km sprint event.

Silver for Britain’s Fitzpatrick

Great Britain’s Menna Fitzpatrick was “over the moon” after claiming silver in the visually impaired super-combined event alongside guide Jennifer Kehoe on Tuesday. It was a second trip to the podium in Pyeongchang for the pair, who had already secured super-G bronze on Sunday.

Their super-G time of one minute and 31.49secs from Tuesday’s opening session put them in second place and they retained the spot, behind Henrieta Farkasova and Natalia Subrtova of Slovakia, having done their slalom run in an impressive 57.51secs. Fellow Britons Millie Knight and Brett Wild – silver medallists both on Sunday and in Saturday’s downhill event – were third after their super-G run but ended up fourth, with Australia’s Melissa Perrine and Christian Geiger taking the bronze. Kelly Gallagher and Gary Smith finished seventh.

“I need to take a deep breath,” said 19-year-old Fitzpatrick. “It feels absolutely amazing, I’m over the moon. The communication was there, we had a really good warm-up, the sun was shining – everything came together and it’s a fabulous day.”

In the men’s super-combined standing event James Whitley, the 20-year-old grandson of former Northern Ireland prime minister James Chichester-Clark, came 11th. Scotsman Scott Meenagh finished 13th in the sitting 12.5km biathlon.